A company Keith knew very well had seen a decline in trade and was finding it difficult to maintain turnover and margins.

They had been selling off the family silver to cover trading losses and a major change was needed if they were to survive.

Part of this was a change in the Chief Executive, who was retired, and new one was recruited.

The new man asked Keith to help with the business planning and refinancing for the Company.

They worked together on developing a business plan that was robust and which outlined the many changes required to turn the business around, some of which would cause pain in some areas, and a change in the way things had been done for to long.

Once this had been agreed by the Board it was necessary to cascade the new approach down through the management team and to staff, so there was total buy-in to the plan.

It was then possible to put in place a refinancing package of £10m, on terms that were in fact better than what was being offered by their existing bankers.

The business has gone on to deliver the plan showing a massive increase in turnover and retained profits and has been able to significantly reduce its debts.